White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany criticized Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s comments in a Washington Post op-ed on President Trump’s deficiencies during the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “revisionist history” and pointing to the praise from the governor in Trump’s past.
“It is really surprising, his comments, especially when compared to his previous comments,” the press secretary said during a briefing on Thursday.
“This is a revisionist story from Governor Hogan and contrasts with what he said on March 19, where he praised the great communication the president has had with governors,” added McEnany, noting that Hogan has praised the coronavirus response in the past. Trump. In April, Hogan praised the administration’s guidelines for the reopening.
In an attempt to smooth things over with the president who has not been afraid to criticize, Hogan in April wrote a letter to Trump praising “continued coordination” between the federal and state governments.
MARYLAND GOV. WALK TO TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF CORONAVIRUS TESTS
But the Republican leader detailed in his opinion piece that he has to buy half a million tests for coronavirus from the South Korean government in a deal partly negotiated by his wife, a native of the country. He said he hid them from the federal government to prevent them from being confiscated for use in another state, as was the case with 3 million N95 masks stored in Massachusetts.
“This should not have been necessary,” wrote Hogan. Eventually, it was clear that waiting for the president to direct the nation’s response was futile; if we took longer, we would be condemning more citizens to suffer and die. “
GOV. HOGAN ANSWERS CRITICISM OF TRUMP ON EVIDENCE
Meanwhile, Hogan said that at a dinner in early February with President Trump, Trump said he did not like dealing with South Korean President Moon Jae In and called the South Koreans “terrible people.”
“While other countries ran ahead with well-coordinated testing regimes, the Trump administration contested the effort,” Hogan continued. Initial tests, she said, were riddled with “inaccuracies and burdensome regulations.”
“Meanwhile, instead of listening to his own public health experts, the president was speaking and tweeting as a man more concerned with driving the stock market or his reelection plans,” the governor wrote.
In late March, the Republican governor called Trump’s claim that the evidence was widely available “just not true.” When Trump promised to reopen the country for Easter, Hogan said it would be “very damaging” and Maryland “obviously would not do that.”
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But Hogan later withdrew that criticism. “I can tell you that I preside that the nation’s governors and administration are doing an excellent job of communicating with all of us, and I think they have been stepping up and doing a much better job,” Hogan told Bret Baier of Fox News and Martha MacCallum. beginnings of May.
